St Mary’s mauling was the turning point for Newcastle United says Jack Colback

But Colback and his team-mates have lost just once since and Saturday’s 1-0 win over QPR was United’s fifth successive Premier League victory.

Midfielder Colback believes St Mary’s proved a turning point.

“There was a change in attitude after that,” said Colback. “That day was an eye-opener.

“We went to Southampton and maybe under-estimated their attacking abilities and left ourselves far too open. We got punished for that.

“We are not the only team to have had a bad day down there. They are a very good team.

“It taught us a bit of a lesson about how we have to be. I think, as players, we looked at each other and said ‘look, we are in a battle here’. Everyone had to realise that.

“We were struggling, but we have managed to turn it around.

“Obviously, we can’t get carried away with this, because we have seen by coming up the league how quickly we could go back down.

“It can turn around quickly and we have got tough games coming up.”

Colback always felt the team was capable of climbing the table.

“It is a great run,” he said. “People might doubt this, but I think everyone in the dressing room knew we could do something like this.

“We were playing well at the start of the season, just not quite winning games.

“The confidence was still there among the players and staff. Finally we are getting the points we should be now.

“Momentumis a massive thing,” added the 25-year-old. “Everyone is pulling in the right direction and knows their role.”

“There have been a lot of players come in because of injury, and they have all done fantastically well.”